Melanie Beckett

Name: Melanie Beckett

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Grade: Senior

School: Cochise High School

Hobbies and Interests: Art (watercolor painting), programming, soccer, travel

Appearance: At 5'5" and 119 lbs, Melanie is somewhat lean. She has elements of both Caucasian and Hispanic ancestry, with light brown skin, chin-length curly dark brown hair, and greenish-brown eyes. Her face is oval shaped, with a slightly concave-bridged nose, thin lips, and a somewhat large mouth. Her skin is relatively clear of blemishes, but she is prone to sunburns on her arms and ears, as she often only puts sunscreen on her face and neck. Typically, she also wears a light amount of makeup to touch up imperfections, although there are some days she decides to eschew makeup entirely.

She prefers to dress casually, favoring bright colors, T-shirts, tank tops, jeans, sneakers, and sandals. On colder days, she adds a jacket.

On the day of the abduction, she was wearing a dark brown light jacket over a yellow tank top with a black lightning bolt design stretching from the left shoulder to the right hip, a pair of old blue jeans, black ankle socks, and somewhat worn white sneakers with watercolor painted rainbow spirals on each side.

Biography: Melanie was born to Gordon Beckett and Miranda Acosta in Kingman, Arizona, an only child at the time, and the only child the marriage would produce. Personality differences between the two and escalating pressure from her father's work as an electrician caused the two to divorce when Melanie was three. She considers herself lucky that she remembers little of it and that the divorce was largely amicable, although she still experienced the effects throughout her childhood, such as having to move between her parents' houses. In any case, she was not a troublesome child, often focusing on one activity to the exclusion of all else, giving the parent taking care of her some time to relax, provided they checked on her every now and then. She did sometimes act without taking into account the consequences of her actions, but suffered no permanent injuries as a result. Her father would later remarry two years later, when she was five, to a woman named Elizabeth Wilcox. Her half-brother Logan was born when she was six. Her mother has yet to remarry or express interest in doing so.

In elementary school, Melanie was a relatively normal student. Compared to other students, she had a longer attention span, but was less motivated to actually start work in the first place, preferring instead to doodle on her papers and desk. This would evolve into an interest in art, specifically watercolor painting, which she initially liked simply due to its style. Her parents and stepparent also encouraged her to try sports during this time, of which only soccer seemed to stick. She initially chose it because it was simple and inexpensive - she appreciated that it required no more equipment to play than a ball and two goals, although other protective equipment was recommended. She enjoys the game itself due to the friendly competition involved and because she feels it suits her compared to a sport like basketball, where her height is a liability. While she often practices with the soccer ball and joins the occasional pick-up game with friends or even strangers, she has never been interested in joining an organized team, preferring to keep the sport as only a hobby.

Once Melanie entered middle school and adolescence, she embraced the opportunity for freedom. Her parents and stepparent had taught her early on to value thinking for herself and that authority was not always infallible, which they now had some reason to regret. She made friends with like-minded individuals, and combined with her impulsive nature, she ended up occasionally causing trouble in class when she felt teachers' demands were unfair. This often got her into trouble instead - she was sent to the principal's office for disobedience a few times, and received a few detentions as well. Her parents and stepparent attempted to curb her behavior without much success. Despite this, she was able to respect most of her teachers enough to make it through middle school with decent grades. She also dabbled in some coding during this time after being exposed to it while browsing the Internet at home, but found it relatively boring compared to art.

Things did not change much when she entered high school. She learned to be more subtle when feeling rebellious, and broke ties with a few of her former friends when they began dabbling in more trouble, such as drugs, than she was comfortable with. She still caused trouble in class occasionally, especially when she acted without thinking, but it happened much less often. She took programming back up after a talk with her stepmother about her future career plans, and found it more tolerable after she learned the basics. She still isn't passionate about it or particularly skilled, but she is at least interested in it to some degree and can turn out good work when she decides to. Lastly, she developed an interest in travel, seeking both inspiration and an escape from routine. Due to her family's limited finances, she has had to settle for short trips such as road trips. She also continues to watercolor paint, having developed her own stylistic quirks in the medium over time. While she has often considered pursuing a career in the arts, she always inevitably decides that it is not a stable enough field financially.

Melanie's grades are decent but not exceptional, most hovering around the B range. The subject she is worst in is math, as she finds learning abstract rules boring compared to a subject with a more practical application such as science. She does averagely in all her other subjects, primarily because she lacks the work ethic to excel. In general, like in her childhood days, Melanie tends to focus on one activity to the detriment of all else. When this is one of her school subjects, her grades improve significantly, but when it is one of her hobbies, her grades suffer.

Her future career was one of the only things that she showed consistent motivation towards, due to her desire not to end up in blue-collar work and her father's own encouragements in this regard. In the interests of getting a head start on possible career paths, Melanie began looking for part-time jobs during the summer of her junior year. Her father was good friends with a manager at a nearby technology company in Phoenix, and she was able to secure a summer internship. While she was grateful for the opportunity, she also ended up feeling ambivalent about her mediocre performance during the internship, seeing it as an example of nepotism winning out over actual talent, skill, and hard work - especially since she was a high school intern amongst many that were of college age.

She gets along with her family to varying degrees. Her father is often distant. Although he rarely turns her down when she asks for a reasonable favor or for help, Melanie has always felt as though he hides his emotions from her. Her mother has always been somewhat of a recluse by nature, and that combined with the effort required in her current studies for a degree in textile design has made her also generally distant to Melanie. Melanie is closest to her stepmother and half-brother. Even this is sometimes a source of friction, since her stepmother is often gentler with her than Logan. Melanie suspects this is due to a combination of factors, the major one being that her relationship with her stepmother is more of a sisterly relationship rather than a parental one.

Socially, Melanie has a reasonable network of friends and acquaintances. She likes to present herself as mischievous with a quick wit, but she also likes to take it easy, preferring to defuse most arguments instead of escalating them. With those she does escalate, however, she is often stubborn beyond reason, something that has occasionally lost her friends. Her half-brother Logan is equally mischievous, but he is both more prone to start fights and a harder worker than Melanie is.

While her mother insists on calling her by her given name and she doesn't usually mind others doing so as well, she prefers the nickname Mel.

Melanie applied to several colleges her senior year, and among the ones that she was accepted to, plans to attend San Diego State University, majoring in computer science. She sees it as a good opportunity to get away from Kingman without putting undue financial burden on her family, and advance further along the path to future financial security.

Advantages: Melanie is relatively easygoing, an advantage both socially and in dealing with the stresses of the game. Once she sets her focus on surviving, her stubbornness should make her less likely to give up.

Disadvantages: Melanie is impulsive, which may get her into trouble due to not thinking her actions through. She is also obsessive, which may lead to her not considering better options or plans instead of the one she is fixed on - a single-minded pursuit is likely to blind her to other dangers and threats on the island. She is a poor follower, lacking respect for authority, and a poor leader, lacking ambition and drive.

Designated Number: Female student No. 053

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Designated Weapon: Tickle-me Elmo

Conclusion: Like travelling huh? Let us know how the accommodation is. I hear the rooms here are to die for. Oh don't mind the guy you're sharing with, he just finds the idea of your death hilarious.- Josie Knight

'The above biography is as written by Iceblock. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Iceblock

Kills: 

Killed By: 

Collected Weapons: Tickle-me Elmo (assigned weapon)

Allies: Cameron Herrig, Aiden Slattery, Serena Waters

Enemies: Alvaro Vacanti

Mid-game Evaluation: Melanie quickly decided she would have nothing to do with the killing. She soon ran into Cameron inside the hunting lodge and offered her assistance, both finding some humor in the 'weapon' she had been assigned. They decided to travel together and seek others that they knew. However, Cameron soon injured herself trying to go down the stairs of the lodge, so Melanie helped Cameron craft a splint and hobble to their next destination, the nearby pub.

Before managing to enter the pub, they spotted Vincenzo/a Gatti, one of Cameron's friends, rounding a corner of the building. Soon after, they discovered that Tessa Mabel Cole was also there. However, Tessa didn't believe their explanations about why Cameron was injured. Melanie tried to joke around it but Tessa was adamant and Enzo fired back in kind with more aggressive assumptions. Tessa wasn't impressed but tried to calm the situation, and showed her weapon in the process, suggesting that they could stay together and protect themselves using it. Melanie took this as her cue to leave since she assumed Cameron was now in good hands. She didn't sleep much that night, unable to find shelter.

After hearing the announcements the next day, she ran into Aiden Slattery outside the bell tower. Despite initially advising him to step away from the gurney holding the dead body of Harold Porter, she eventually ignored her own advice and approached the body and the tower with Aiden in tow. Before they could get in Wade Cartwright burst through the door and ran out of the building, away. During the commotion Serena Waters also appeared, Melanie noticing her first and pointing her out. Serena was nervous because of Aiden's being bloodstained, Melanie also figured it out and offered her jacket so he could cover up. They found the dead body of Barry Banks when they actually entered the tower, and as a group decided to go elsewhere.

They found shelter in the cove. They heard the announcements the next day, and it struck a blow to their morale. Melanie took it on herself to try and reason why the killings were still going, and in the end spontaneously decided that it was better they have fun instead of giving into the despair. Serena agreed, and inadvertently revealed while they were discussing their plans that she had a crush on Jeremy Frasier. Melanie caught on, and slyly put tracking Jeremy down onto the table as an option. Serena took her offer and took the lead of the group, and Melanie followed along without a worry in her heart.

Serena led them to the vehicle depot, when Day 4 announcements implicated Serena's former ally Alessio Rigano as a killer, shocking Serena. Melanie drew on her newfound philosophies to help herself and Serena assuage the guilt, and they continued with Serena's plan of finding a use for her assigned weapon of vehicle keys. However they encountered Alvaro Vacanti inside. He was unresponsive to their presence, and Melanie was tempted at some point to kick him to be sure he was alive, but then a more immediate problem presented itself as Irene Djezari barged onto the scene, armed, and Melanie tried to assure her they were no threat. Irene paid them no mind, focusing her efforts on the killer in the room, Alvaro. Her attempts to bring him to justice failed, she instead died. At once Melanie was outraged beyond what she'd thought possible, as Serena went for Irene's gun Melanie and Aiden went to tackle Alvaro to the ground, as a group they held him at gunpoint and Melanie demanded an explanation. It came, but Serena wasn't satisfied and argued Alvaro had to die. Alvaro saved himself by firing his gun, Melanie was forced to throw herself clear and Alvaro ran. Without hesitation Melanie called for the group to pursue him. She quickly lost Serena and Aiden, however, and found herself alone at the slopes having lost track of Alvaro as well. After stewing in her frustration for a while, she was surprised by her companions' reappearance in a working Jeep, Serena having found the vehicle that her keys corresponded to.

The three of them spent a couple of days camping out in the Jeep, discussing what they would do now. Mel, despite her frustrations with the game, was still adamant that they shouldn't give in to what the terrorists wanted of them. Serena on the other hand expressed the desire to stop the killers somehow, and Aiden seemed resigned to his fate at this point and just wanted to enjoy his last few days. Melanie wasn't satisfied with this, but she didn't want to pursue an argument and let the matter drop.

Come Day 7, the three of them were ended up outside the gym in the staff social areas, where they spotted known killer Jeremiah Fury in a confrontation with Matthew Moradi and Bart Cappotelli. Serena reacted without consulting the others and ran Jerry over, killing him in order to save Matt and Bart. Melanie and Aiden were both shocked and expressed themselves accordingly, but Serena maintained that she had done what she had to do.

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes: "But that's what started it all. Life's what the terrorists are putting in front of us, 'cause that's what they've taken away." -- Melanie's beliefs on how the terrorists get people to start killing.

"They want us to kill each other. You think it matters how right we are?" -- Pointing out to Serena and Aiden that killing is killing regardless of moral intention.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Melanie, in chronological order.

V6 Pregame:
 * The Dynamo of Volition

V6:
 * Nature's Predators
 * Call Me Maybe
 * Thursday's Child
 * Aluminum Bicycle Rods
 * How Can I Take Off This Mask?
 * Man in Three-Piece Suit Eating Omelette with Hands
 * Electric Dreams
 * You thought it was Kimiko but it was me, Jerry!

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Melanie Beckett. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''